Kudankulam row: protesters to lay siege in sea today

Kudankulam is set to get heated up once again on Monday with anti-nuke protesters about to begin a siege of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant with villagers and fishermen from the coastal districts of Tutirocin, Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli announcing that they would reach within 500 meters of the plant.

Some 500 boats are sailing close to the plant site and protesters, including children and women, will be in sea to intensify their 420 day long protest against the plant that they want shut down as it was unsafe.

Administration has mounted additional security, with rapid action force battalions in place, to thwart any untoward incident. There is huge deployment of police, including marine police, rapid action force, numbering close to 2,000 guarding the plant and routes leading to it.

SP Udaykumar, PMANE convener against whom an arrest warrant is in force, sounded confident and said that he was not scared. He announced that he would lead the protest and move in one of the boats.

"Ours is a democratic struggle which will continue till our demands are met," he told press persons at Idinthakarai villge that has become the headquarters for the over a year long protest.

When asked what he would do if he was arrested, Udayakumar said that a legal team was in place to deal with the non-bailable arrest warrant. "I am not an anti-national, nor have I looted crore of rupees. I am only asking the authorities to give consideration to the safety concerns of thousands of people against the dangerous nuclear energy," he said.

The anti-nuke campaigner promised a "peaceful, Gandhian" way of protest. "We have drawn our own boundaries and will not cross them and we will not be indulging in any loot or arson or violence," he said.

Meanwhile, the police seized 240 liquor bottles from a vehicle. During questioning by the police, the driver is said that he was given Rs 16000 and asked to bring the bottles.

The police have also mounted hidden cameras in different areas of the protest venue, so that it can identify trouble makers, if any, a senior police official said.